Thesis

A Walk Down Oak Path recreates an area of Arnold Arboretum in virtual reality. To create the experience, we overlaid a visual effect on top of the original landscape of Oak Path. During the short journey along the path, each user witnesses dazzling animations that illustrate the disappearance of our natural landscapes. A Walk Down Oak Path enables the user to experience a piece of the Arboretum in a new way.

In the Eyes of the Animal

Northern Red Oak

• The tree is resistant to pollution and is decently hardy.
• Some of the acorns that this tree produces are eaten by wildlife.
• The Northern Red Oak grows fast, at 24" a year.

When we walked through the Arboretum, it was difficult to see the tags that identified the trees. Our original idea was to show people the names of trees were through VR. This would allow people to see the names of trees clearly.

Arboretum Visit

Sketch

Prototype 1

Project Timeline

Start of the project

First drone footage to point cloud test

Free model tree point cloud test

First path with working point cloud tree finished

First Co Spaces prototype finished

Took Arboretum drone footage

Converted drone footage into a point cloud

Made tree models in blender

Put trees into unreal with the path

Animated trees

Unreal Prototype

Point Clouds

3d Model

Drone Footage

Animation

Point Cloud Test

Unreal-VR Test

Point Cloud Path

Modeling our own Trees

Converting them into point clouds

Process of making a tree